Introduction

What's even better than a two-drive MX200 array? A three-drive MX200 array, of course. Crucial's MX200 500GB SATA III SSD quickly won us over and has become a TweakTown favorite. The MX200 is blazing fast, utilizes high-grade components, and is one of a very few SSD's in its class to have on-board host power loss protection. And did we mention the MX200 is priced in the same range as SSD's that utilize inferior TLC flash?

Crucial wants to separate themselves from a vast field of competing solutions with more than just speed. The MX200 definitely has speed that makes it stand out from competing solutions. However, as important as speed is, data protection is even more important. Protection from data corruption and protection from intrusion are two of today's biggest concerns. To combat data corruption, Crucial utilizes the finest components including MLC synchronous flash. MLC flash protects your data by delivering superior endurance and MLC flash is less susceptible to thermal related data corruption in comparison to TLC flash. MLC flash inherently provides more protection from thermal related data corruption than TLC flash, but Crucial takes it a step further. Crucial employs proprietary adaptive thermal protection technology. This technology dynamically adjusts component activity keeping temperatures within a specific safe range.

To protect in-flight data in the event of a host power loss, Crucial outfits the MX200 with a small capacitor array that provides enough backup power to flush in-flight data to the drive's flash array.

As NAND lithography shrinks, a powerful and efficient error correction scheme becomes critical to combat data corruption and extend the life of a drive's flash array. Crucial integrates RAIN parity technology as part of the MX200's error correction scheme; making the MX200 one of the safest places to store your precious data. To keep your data safe from unwanted intrusion as well as physical theft, the MX200 is AES 256-bit encryption capable. Crucial's MX200 meets or exceeds all industry encryption standards, including IEEE-1667 compliance, TCG Opal 2.0 and Microsoft eDrive.

Crucial has all the bases covered with the MX200; it's a super-fast, ultra-reliable and safe platform for your data. We feel that a 3-drive array is the real sweet spot for price, performance and capacity. A good 3-drive SATA array can outperform most PCIe drives in an OS environment and do so for about half the cost. RAID 0 is all about performance, and we expect a 3-drive MX200 array to deliver the goods. Let's dive in and see exactly what this powerful array has to offer.

Specifications

Crucial's MX200 SATA III SSD is available in three capacities: 250GB, 500GB and 1TB. Sequential performance of the MX200 is listed at 555/500 read/write. Random read/write performance is listed at up to 100,000/87,000 IOPS at all capacity points. Of particular interest is the high endurance guarantee that the MX200 carries. The 250GB capacity MX200 comes with a TBW (Total Bytes Written) guarantee of 80TB, the 500GB capacity a TBW guarantee of 160TB and the 1TB model a guaranteed TBW of 320TB. This is class leading endurance and something virtually unseen from consumer based SSD's to this point.

Crucial's MX200 SATA III SSD comes in a 2.5" x 7mm Z-height form factor and ships with a spacer should you need to increase the drives thickness to 9.5mm. Crucial includes an Acronis key as a value add. Crucial backs the MX200 with an industry standard three-year warranty or TBW allowed during the three-year warranty period, whichever comes first.

PRICING: You can find the Crucial MX200 500GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive - CT500MX200SSD1 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link below to see real-time pricing for the best deal:

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